Share this Page

Arsenal beat Everton to win Asia Trophy

Theo Walcott put the Gunners in front at the break, before Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil put them three clear.

Petr Cech was handed his debut by Arsene Wenger, but he couldn’t register a clean sheet in his first appearance as Ross Barkley pulled one back for Everton.

The game started brightly as both sides looked good in possession, but no one was giving an inch as chances were at a premium.

Arsenal started to assert their dominance after the opening stages, and the Gunners eventually broke the deadlock on 22 minutes.

Santi Cazorla floated a delightful ball through the middle for Walcott, who managed to hold off pressure from Seamus Coleman before firing a low effort past Joel Robles.

Cech had very little to do in his first 45 minutes, but he was called into action shortly before the break as Steven Naismith flicked on a free kick, and the goalkeeper produced a wonderful stop to tip it on to the bar.

The flag had already gone up, but it was still a perfect example of why Wenger worked to bring the Czech to Arsenal from Chelsea.

Cech was called into action again shortly after the break, as full-back Luke Garbutt fired a dangerous shot from distance which the goalkeeper turned away confidently.

And Arsenal were soon two in front as Ozil and Cazorla linked up for a short corner, before the Spaniard shimmied his way into space and fired a low shot inside the near post.

Four minutes later, the Gunners were out of sight as the two linked up again, this time in reverse order as Ozil laid off for Cazorla before receiving it beyond the defence and coolly firing past Joel Robles.

Everton looked down and out, but the introduction of Ross Barkley added some guile to the Toffees’ midfield.

The England international pulled one back for Roberto Martinez’s men on 75 minutes when Gareth Barry caught the impressive Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in possession and found Barkley, who smashed an excellent shot into the top corner to deny Cech a clean sheet on his debut.

But it would only prove to be a consolation as Everton ran out of steam, leaving Arsenal to triumph in the pre-season tournament in Singapore.

Earlier, Stoke secured third place in the competition as they saw off the Singapore Select XI 2-0.

Steve Sidwell put Mark Hughes’ men in front early on after prodding home from Peter Crouch’s head down from Marco van Ginkel’s corner.

Marko Arnautovic doubled the Potter’s lead in the second half with a well-taken finish, as Stoke finished the competition without conceding a goal.